Originally posted by benjikan What will the next generation of DSLR's be? Will the pixel race ever end and will the consumer accept Quality over Quantity. When is enough enough? The numbers game has worked to date, but will the majors start communicating other aspects of what is important, to slow down this endemic procession?
I know what I want. I know what I need. I don't like using medium format camera's, as I find them cumbersome and as a result problematic. I don't like the weight of the Canon 1Ds Mklll's or the Nikon D3's. I want a DSLR that has the output quality of a medium format digital back, but in a compact package similar to the K20D and the grip.
I want to see a 25 to 30 mega pixel DSLR with noise levels similar to the Dalsa digital sensors at 100 iso.
I am sure we will get there, but at what cost? To date, the K20D has served me well and for all intent and purpose outperforms the K10D significantly. I prefer the rendition of the images coming out of it. It doesn't look as digital as what comes out of the Sony sensor. I actually like the look of Canon images. Many here don't. The output from the K20D is like a mix between the Nikon D300 and the Canon 40D's.
Perhaps that has more to do with being a CMOS rather than a CCD sensor. The programming of the color output is a factor as well of course.
In many of my discussions with Pentax, they often voiced their desire and intent to eventually go FF. Perhaps that time will come sooner than later.
None the less, it will be interesting to see what will be on offer come September of 2008.
Ben
Ben, we can only speculate what will eventually transpire! Pentax seem to be keeping their cards pretty close to their chest these days, so it all we can do. Maybe they don't know what to do either!
If you extrapolate the same sensor well size of the current K20D sensor to a FF (36 x 24mm) size you would get a 34MP sensor, the question is, would that be enough for you and are you content with the ISO 100 noise from the K20D?
Samsung have made noises that they intend to develop such a device. It is conceivable that such a sensor could be fitted into a similar sized body as the K20D, after all, the original MZ-D (K1 prototype) was actually smaller. However there is some speculation that the SR mechanism would need to be larger for a bigger sensor, so the body may have to grow accordingly. I don't think they would ever drop SR.
As you say, it will be interesting to see if they do announce their intentions sooner rather than later, but I expect the next release to be an entry point base model rather than anything as ambitious as a FF body. But they may feel the need to make their intentions clear for marketing reasons.
I actually suspect that the next body after that will still be APS-C, but with improvements to fps, AF and flash with even more pro-oriented features, which is what the punters (and reviewers) are looking for. Whether that new body design will be engineered to be able to take a future larger sensor or just a next generation version of the existing K20D sensor with further improvements to the image processor pipeline and maybe even more megapixels, is anyones guess.
One thing I'm pretty sure of is that Pentax will move away from the Sony CCD sensor in a K200D upgrade/replacement, maybe even in the new entry point model. That way, they can further differentiate themselves from Nikon and Sony.
As for matching the ISO 100 noise from a Dalsa MF sensor, that I feel is a way off as yet, it's speculated by some that at low ISO's a CCD has slightly better noise than a CMOS, couple that with the much larger sensor site area and I think you may have a bit of a wait as yet!